Bathing facility liner ensemble

ABSTRACT

A liner ensemble for use with a bathing facility having a drain. The liner ensemble contains a liner having an exterior side, an interior side, a bottom and sidewalls. The liner is removably disposed in the bathing facility and at least partially following a contour of the bathing facility. A fastener is attached to the exterior side of the liner for securing the liner to the bathing facility. The liner is removable from the bathing facility by disengaging the fastener from the bathing facility.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates, generally, to bathing facility liners, and morespecifically, it relates to a mobile and disposable bathing facilityliner that provides hygienic protection from previous users of thebathing facility.

Traditionally bathtub liners have been disposed in bathtubs to permitease of maintenance of the bathtub in use. A removable bathtub liner isexemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,931,651 to Weir and 5,153,950 to Sowerswherein a liner is removable mounted in contact with a top surface of anassociated bathtub. However, such liners need a complicated skeletonstructure for their mounting and are generally not transportable in thesense that a traveler could not easily carry such a liner on travel.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,231 to Smith teaches an inflatable liner for usewith convention bathtubs. The inflatable liner is for use with infants,elderly, physically disable or other instances where a cushioned and/orsanitary bathing surface is desired. A battery-operated air pump isattached to the inflatable liner for inflating the liner. The inflatableliner is compact enough for travel but requires an extensive setup timedue to the need for inflation and is too expensive to be a disposableliner.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,764 to Hall et al. teaches a bathtub and showerliner ensemble formed of thin, flimsy, disposable, sterile, contoured,impervious, plastic film sheers, with a bottom mat-like sheet secured tothe bathtub or shower basin to provide cushion and comfort. The entireliner assembly is compressed to form a single, thin, flexible chaiselining, which is contoured to fit removably into the bathtub. The chaseliner is removed through the process of peeling, where the thin, filmsheers are individually peeled from the top. Each new film sheerprovides a new sterile surface. However, the liner assembly is nottransportable for travel by an individual and must be specificallymanufactured for each bathtub configuration. Therefore, a one size fitsall concept is not possible. Furthermore, the extensive layeringprovides the mat or cushion effect and the last few sheets of the linerdo not provide much of a cushion effect.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a bathingfacility liner ensemble, which overcomes the herein-mentioneddisadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type,which is portable, disposable and provides hygienic protection.

With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, inaccordance with the invention, a liner ensemble for use with a bathingfacility having a drain. The liner ensemble contains a liner having anexterior side, an interior side, a bottom and sidewalls. The liner isremovably disposed in the bathing facility and at least partiallyfollows a contour of the bathing facility. A fastener is attached to theexterior side of the liner for securing the liner to the bathingfacility. The liner is removable from the bathing facility bydisengaging the fastener from the bathing facility.

The liner is removed from the bathing facility by peeling the liner offof the bathing facility. Ideally, the fastener is an adhesive having anadhesive cover disposed on the exterior side of the liner. The adhesivecover is removed from the adhesive for allowing the adhesive to secureto the bathing facility. The adhesive is in a form of adhesive stripsdisposed spaced apart on the exterior side of the liner. Alternatively,the adhesive is in a form of adhesive patches disposed spaced apart onthe exterior side of the liner. Furthermore, at least one of theadhesive strips extends beyond the liner for attachment to the bathingfacility.

In an added feature of the invention, the bottom of the liner is formedof a water impervious or water resistant material.

In an additional feature of the invention, the liner is formed of awater impervious material defining the exterior side of the liner and amat is disposed on at least part of the water impervious materialdefining the bottom. Optionally, the water impervious material fullyencloses the mat in a sandwich type format. Preferably, the waterimpervious material has a roughened surface.

In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the liner has ahole formed therein in an area of the drain and a drain cover attachedto the liner covering the hole. A ripcord is connected to the draincover and the ripcord is substantially disposed around a circumferenceof the hole. Alternatively, the ripcord can be embedded in the lineritself for creating a hole in an area of the drain when the ripcord ispulled.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, a dispenser isattached to the liner. The dispenser contains soap, scent, bubble bath,bath oil, body lotion, moisturizer, and/or color dye. Alternatively, theliner could be coated with the soap, bubble bath, bath oil, body lotion,moisturizer, and/or color dye and is activated by contact with water orthe user.

In an alternative embodiment, the liner has a surface with a decorativepattern and/or it is embossed with animal shapes. This provides anentertainment factor to the user. The decorative pattern is not limitedto flowers and such but can incorporate corporate logos such as hotelnames, business names, cartoon characters, built-in activities andgames, and sports related memorabilia such as NFL, NBA, and NHLmemorabilia to name a few.

In accordance with another further feature of the invention, thesidewalls are formed from the water impervious material but do notinclude the mat. The water impervious material can be a plastic and themat is formed of cloth, fabric, sponge and/or a compressive material.Ideally, the liner is thin and can be less than 1/16 inches thick orless than 1/32 or even 1/64 inches. It is noted that the liner may beeven thinner formed of only a thin plastic layer and a thin fabric layersuch as a baby bipster. In this way the liner is compactly packaged andis easily carried on travel.

With the foregoing and other objects in view there is further provided,in accordance with the invention, a liner ensemble. The liner ensemblecontains a liner having a bottom with an exterior side and an interiorside. The liner is removably disposable in a bathing facility and afastener is attached to the exterior side of the liner for securing theliner to the bathing facility. The liner is removable from the bathingfacility by disengaging the fastener from the bathing facility. Ideally,the liner has a rectangular shape. Optionally, the liner has sidewallsextending from the bottom and being less than 2 inches high. The lineris formed of a water resistance layer defining the exterior side and afabric layer defining the interior side. The fabric layer is preferablyan imprinted fabric layer containing a design, game, corporate logo,and/or sports memorabilia, to name a few.

Other characteristic features of the invention are set forth in theappended claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodiedin a bathing facility liner ensemble, it is nevertheless not intended tobe limited to the details shown, since various modifications andstructural changes may be made therein without departing from the spiritof the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of theclaims.

The construction of the invention, however, together with additionalobjects and advantages thereof will be best understood from thefollowing description of specific embodiments when read in connectionwith the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic, top perspective view of a bathing facilityliner ensemble according to the invention;

FIGS. 2A-2C are diagrammatic, partial sectional views of an exteriorliner and/or an associated mat;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic, bottom or exterior perspective view of theliner;

FIG. 4A is a diagrammatic, plan view of a drain cover;

FIG. 4B is a diagrammatic, sectional view of the drain cover;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic, plan view of the bathing facility liner; and

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic, perspective view of a second embodiment of theliner ensemble.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In all the figures of the drawing, sub-features and integral parts thatcorrespond to one another bear the same reference symbol in each case.Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first,particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a liner 1 which providesa biologically clean liner for a bathing facility such as a bathtuband/or shower to establish a physical barrier between the bathtub and/orshower and the user. The liner 1 provides a low cost contaminationprevention system obviating the need to clean and sterilize the bathtuband/or shower before or after each use. More advantageously, the liner 1alleviates any concern one has regarding, germs, disease, fungus, mildewand bodily excretions touching a users body being an adult or childtaking a bath or shower in a new short-term environment such as a hotel,a motel, and a home of a friend or relative. The liner 1 has a bottomportion 2 that covers a bottom portion of the tub and/or shower andsidewalls 3 that extend up a distance on the sidewalls of the bathtuband/or shower.

As shown in FIGS. 2A-2C, the bottom portion 2 is preferably formed of amat 4 providing a degree of cushion and structural stability to theliner 1. The bottom portion may have a textured or roughened top surface8 to provide a frictional engagement surface for preventing a user fromslipping when stepping on the liner 1. A roughened surface 9 may also beprovided on the bottom surface of the liner 1 to assist in preventingslippage of the 1 liner along the surface of the bathing facility. Themat 4 may be formed of a cushioned material such as a foam materialenclosed by an exterior liner 5 formed of a water impervious orresistant material 5. Inherently the liner 1 must be made of a materialthat is tear resistant so as to not break under the pressure of theusers weight. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2A, an upper surface ofthe mat 4 is enclosed by the exterior liner 5. In FIG. 2B only thebottom of the liner 1 has the water impervious material layer 5.

For example, an impervious plastic layer 5 enclosing the inner layer 4of a supporting compressible material to provide comfort is envisioned.Alternatively, a porous sponge like layer covered on the bottom by aplastic layer is also possible for the mat and exterior liner. Theplastic layer 5 is water impervious and at the same time the spongelayer 4 provides an entertainment factor for young children who like tosqueeze the water out of the mat 4. Of course the mat 4 can be formed ofmany other materials such as a soft fabric or cloth so long as a leakproof barrier 5 is provided between the mat 4 and the bathtub. Furtheralternatives include a mat 4 formed of a bubble wrap type material.Furthermore, the mat 4 may be dispensed with and only the exterior liner5 can be used as shown in FIG. 2C. Ideally, the mat 4 and the exteriorliner 5 can be created as an integrated component.

The liner 1 is configured to follow the contours of a standard bathtubbut may be configured to be slightly smaller than a standard bathtub toallow a greater degree of use in types of bathtubs. The liner 1 can beconfigured to follow the contour of many different types of bathingfacilities and is not limited to the standard bathtub shape.

For an entertainment factor, the bottom and/or sides of the liner may beprovided with decorations 6 or with built in toys such as sponge animals7 protruding from the surface of the mat, as shown in FIG. 5.

The sidewalls 3 can be made of the same material as the as the exteriorliner 5 with or without the mat 4 lining as shown in FIGS. 2A-2C.However, the sidewalls 3 may also be made out of a different materialsuch as a more flexible material with or without cushioning properties.Alternatively, the sidewalls 3 can be made of a stretchable material forconforming to the shape of the bathing facility. For instance, aflexible plastic would work. The sidewalls 3 are configured to extend upapproximately ¾ the length of the sidewalls of the bathing facility. Dueto its flexible nature, the sidewalls 3 can be adapted to many differenttypes of bathing facility contours. In an alternative embodiment, thesidewalls 3 can be dimension to extend over the sides of the bathingfacility.

FIG. 3 is a rear or exterior view of the liner 1. On the leak proofexterior liner 5 and the sidewalls 3 is disposed a fastener such as anadhesive shown in the form of adhesive strips 10, 11. The adhesivestrips 10, 11 can run in any manner shown on the exterior liner 5 andare not just limited to the horizontal and vertical directions shown.Furthermore, the adhesive does not have to be in strip form and may beany form such as adhesive patches 12. The form, shape, positioning andnumber of the fasteners shown are arbitrary. The adhesive has a stripcover 13 to prevent the adhesive 10, 11, 12 from sticking until thecustomer is ready to use the liner 1. The adhesive sticks to the bathingfacility to ensure that the liner 1 does not move when water pours fromthe facet or when the weight of a body is applied. It is important thatthe adhesive sticks firmly as a slipping liner 1 is undesirable. Inaddition, the adhesive strips may extend beyond the liner 1 and beattached the sidewalls of the bathing facility or walls surrounding thebathing facility.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 4A and 4B, the liner 1 may optionally have anopening 20 for accommodating a drain. Ideally, a drain cover 21 isprovided over the opening 20. The drain cover 21 is removed when one isfinished using the bathtub so as to allow access to the drain forremoval. The drain cover 21 provides greater hygienic protection as thedrain is also covered. The drain cover 21 has an adhesive on one sideand is affixed to the bottom 2 of the liner 1. Imbedded within the draincover 21 is a loop of a monofilament line in the form of a ripcord 22.When the end of the ripcord 22 is pulled, a drain hole is torn out ofthe drain cover 21 or the complete drain cover 21 is removed. It is ofcourse obvious to one skilled in the art that the ripcord 22 could beimbedded in the liner 1 itself in a circular format and the pulling ofthe ripcord 22 creates its own drain hole 20 or tear. Of course theshape of the ripcord 22 is not limited to a circular shape.

The liners 1 can be manufactured in a variety of sizes, colors, designs,patterns and themes. In addition, the liners 1 can include differentscents built-in or impregnated in the liners 1 or in a part of the liner1. Additionally, the liner 1 can be coated 30 with body lotions,lubricants, moisturizing lotions, bath oils, color dyes, soaps, bubblebath, and other such bath items for increasing the users enjoyment.Alternatively, the body lotions, lubricants, moisturizing lotions, bathoils, color dyes, soaps, bubble bath, and other such bath items forincreasing the users enjoyment can be incorporated in a built in adispenser or pocket 31 in the sidewalls or bottom of the liner 1. Thedispenser 31 is punctured by pressure from ones hand and the containedlotion, soap, dye, etc. is released.

In addition, the liners 1 can be packaged similar to such products asbaby bipsters, zip lock bags, or in boxes to name just a few packagingconcepts.

FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of a liner ensemble having a liner 30which may incorporate all of the features shown in FIGS. 1-5 but are notnecessarily shown for clarity purposes. The liner 30 is similar indetail to the liner 1 with the exception being that the sidewalls 3 arequite small or non-existent. The sidewalls 3 are less than 3 inches andmay be any increment of 1, 2, 3 inches or any fraction thereof.Additionally, the liner 30 may be formed of only the mat or bottom part2 without any sidewalls 3 or mere nubs for sidewalls. In thisembodiment, the liner 30 is significantly more compact for packaging andcontains only the opening 20 without the drain plug. In this embodiment,the liner 30 may be more appropriate for showers or other types ofbathing facilities that do not have the standard bathtub type shape. Theliner 30 also contains the adhesive 10-12 with an adhesive cover 13attached to the bottom 2 and optionally to the sidewalls 3 for attachingto the bathing facility (should sidewalls exist). In this configuration,the liner 30 ideally is formed of a thin plastic layer and a thin fabriclike layer so that the liner 30 can be compactly packaged. As shown inFIG. 6, the liner 30 has a generally rectangular shape that genericallyfits many types of bathing facilities but can be manufactured to anyshape depending on the needs of the bathing facility.

1. A disposable liner ensemble for use with a bathing facility having adrain, the liner ensemble comprising: a liner having an exterior side,an interior side, a bottom and sidewalls, said liner being removablydisposed in the bathing facility and said sidewalls extending from saidbottom and being less than 2 inches high; and a fastener attached tosaid exterior side of said liner for securing said liner to the bathingfacility, said liner being removable from the bathing facility bydisengaging said fastener from the bathing facility.
 2. The linerensemble according to claim 1, wherein said liner is removed from saidbathing facility by peeling said liner off of said bathing facility. 3.The liner ensemble according to claim 2, wherein said fastener is anadhesive having an adhesive cover disposed on said exterior side of saidliner, said adhesive cover being removed from said adhesive for allowingthe adhesive to secure to the bathing facility.
 4. The liner ensembleaccording to claim 3, wherein said adhesive is in a form of adhesivestrips disposed spaced apart on said exterior side of said liner.
 5. Theliner ensemble according to claim 3, wherein said adhesive is in a formof adhesive patches disposed spaced apart on said exterior side of saidliner.
 6. The liner ensemble according to claim 4, wherein at least oneof said adhesive strips extends beyond said liner for attachment to thebathing facility.
 7. The liner ensemble according to claim 1, whereinsaid bottom of said liner is formed of a water impervious material. 8.The liner ensemble according to claim 1, wherein said liner is formed ofa water impervious material defining said exterior side of said linerand a mat disposed on at least part of said water impervious materialdefining said bottom.
 9. The liner ensemble according to claim 8,wherein said water impervious material fully encloses said mat in asandwich type format.
 10. The liner ensemble according to claim 9,wherein said water impervious material has a roughened surface.
 11. Theliner ensemble according to claim 1, wherein said liner has a holeformed therein in an area of the drain and a drain cover attached tosaid liner covering said hole.
 12. The liner ensemble according to claim11, further comprising a ripcord connected to said drain cover.
 13. Theliner ensemble according to claim 11, wherein said ripcord issubstantially disposed around a circumference of said hole.
 14. Theliner ensemble according to claim 1, further comprising a dispenserattached to said liner.
 15. The liner ensemble according to claim 1,wherein said dispenser contains a material selected from the groupconsisting of soap, scent, bubble bath, bath oil, body lotion,moisturizer, and color dye.
 16. The liner ensemble according to claim 1,wherein said liner has a surface with a decorative pattern.
 17. Theliner ensemble according to claim 1, wherein said liner has a surfacewith animal shapes embossed therein.
 18. The liner ensemble according toclaim 8, wherein said sidewalls are formed from said water imperviousmaterial but do not include said mat.
 19. The liner ensemble accordingto claim 8, wherein said water impervious material is a plastic and saidmat is formed of a material selected from the group consisting of cloth,fabric, sponge and a compressive material.
 20. The liner ensembleaccording to claim 1, wherein said liner is less than 1/32 inches thick.21. The liner ensemble according to claim 1, wherein said liner is lessthan 1/64 inches thick.
 22. The liner ensemble according to claim 1,further comprising a ripcord embedded in said liner for creating a holein an area of the drain when the ripcord is pulled.
 23. The linerensemble according to claim 1, wherein said liner is coated with amaterial selected from the group consisting of soap, scent, bubble bath,bath oil, body lotion, moisturizer, and color dye.
 24. A disposableliner ensemble for use with a bathing facility having a drain, the linerensemble comprising: a liner having an exterior side, an interior side,a bottom and sidewalls, said liner being removably disposed in thebathing facility and said sidewalls extending from said bottom and beingless than 2 inches high; and a covered adhesive attached to saidexterior side of said liner for securing said liner to the bathingfacility, said liner being removable from the bathing facility bypeeling said liner from the bathing facility.
 25. A disposable linerensemble, comprising: a liner having a bottom with an exterior side andan interior side, said liner being removably disposable in a bathingfacility, said liner having sidewalls extending from said bottom andbeing less than 2 inches high; a fastener attached to said exterior sideof said liner for securing said liner to the bathing facility, saidliner being removable from said bathing facility by disengaging saidfastener from the bathing facility.
 26. The liner ensemble according toclaim 25, wherein said liner has a rectangular shape.
 27. (canceled) 28.The liner ensemble according to claim 25, wherein said liner has a holeformed therein functioning as a drain.
 29. The liner ensemble accordingto claim 25, wherein said fastener is an adhesive having an adhesivecover disposed on said exterior side of said liner, said adhesive coverbeing removed from said adhesive for allowing the adhesive to secure tothe bathing facility.
 30. The liner ensemble according to claim 29,wherein said adhesive is in a form of adhesive strips disposed spacedapart on said exterior side of said liner.
 31. The liner ensembleaccording to claim 25, wherein said liner is formed of a waterresistance layer defining said exterior side and a fabric layer definingsaid interior side.
 32. The liner ensemble according to claim 31,wherein said fabric layer is an imprinted fabric layer.